Face Recognition Abilities in Iraqi Medical Students: An Inferential, Cross Sectional Analysis

The ability of humans to recognise faces of countless individuals is unique and has an evolutionary basis. The cortical surface, responsible for this task, is significantly large in humans. The aim of this study was to analyze the face recognition abilities of a selected population of Iraqi students and to determine the correlation of these abilities with gender, handedness, and ethnicity.
To identify potential super-recognizers in a population of Iraqi medical students.
This cross sectional study started in October 2016. The participants included medical students (n, 309), aged 17 - 25 years, form 4 ethnic groups: Arabs (288), Kurds (12), Turks (7), and Christian ethnicities (2). The face recognition ability was quantitatively scored (0 - 14), using a face recognition test. The test was distributed electronically via bit-encrypted Intranet systems. Nonparametric and inferential statistics were measured to determine the correlation between the scores and gender, handedness, and ethnicity.
More than half of the participants (51.5%) were found to be potential super-recognizers. There was a significant difference between males and females (10.72 vs. 10.05; P = 0.027). However, there was no significant difference between right- and left-handed individuals (10.29 vs. 10.09; P = 0.394). On the other hand, there was a significant interethnic difference between Arabs and Kurds (10.19 vs. 11.5; P = 0.022).
Face recognition abilities had not been investigated in Iraqi populations before the present study. This study indicated the correlation of face recognition abilities with gender and ethnicity. Individuals with high scores on face recognition tests were known as super-recognizers. These individuals can be valuable to law-enforcement and intelligence agencies worldwide. Nonetheless, practical applications of this study are not limited to artificial intelligence, biometrics, or anthropometrics.